Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 The Coral Reef Environmental "Crisis": Negotiating Knowledge in Scientific Uncertainty and Geographic Difference Ba#rbel G. Bischof Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & PUBLIC POLICY THE CORAL REEF ENVIRONMENTAL “CRISIS”: NEGOTIATING KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENTIFIC UNCERTAINTY AND GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCE By BÄRBEL G. BISCHOF A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 i The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Bärbel G. Bischof, defended on May 7, 2010. !!!!!!_____________________________________________ !!!!!!Philip E. Steinberg !!!!!! Professor Directing Dissertation !!!!!!_____________________________________________ !!!!!!Ronald E. Doel !!!!!! University Representative !!! !!!!!!_____________________________________________ !!!!!!James B. Elsner !!!!!! Committee Member !!!!!!_____________________________________________ !!!!!!Xiaojun Yang !!!!!! Committee Member !!!!!! Approved: ______________________________________________________________ Victor Mesev, Chair, Department of Geography ______________________________________________________________ David W. Rasmussen, Dean, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii I dedicate this to all of those who commit themselves towards conserving our natural environments, especially those of our oceans. Ultimately, this is for my three noodles, Sienne, Keah, and Zalynn, for whom I want a better world, one that when they are grown, still harbors the ocean’s beauty and wonder that I have been fortunate enough to behold. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ! I would first like to thank the U.S. National Science Foundation, which awarded me the Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant in 2008 (BCS-0825623) and therewith allowed me to have the freedom to complete my work from my field site in South Florida’s coral reef environments. Also, many thanks to the FSU Department of Geography faculty and staff for their assistance and support in helping me reach my goal, particularly to Victor Mesev, Christina Dippre and Shawn Lewers. Many thanks also to respondents of my survey without whom I obviously would have been quite stuck. I am fully aware of the mental energy I requested of them to complete the Q-sorts, and sincerely appreciate those who had the depth and vision to understand my goals and the respect my efforts. Thanks to those who took the time to provide valuable feedback, particularly those who I know did not have much time to spare, given the demands made of them as leading reef scientists and management professionals. ! I would like to extend extra-special thanks to my dissertation advisor Phil Steinberg, for accepting me as his student, and his attention to my interests, his mentorship, his openness to my crazy ideas, and for his always-impressive articulation of philosophical issues that gave me brain-freeze when attempting to understand them on my own. Without a doubt, truly the best dissertation advisor anyone could hope for. And also extra-special thanks to Jim Elsner for his practical contributions and skill with “R” and writing and correcting the R-code that put my ideas into action; but also, and maybe more importantly, his willingness to listen to my concerns and his constant encouragement and confidence in me when my own sometimes faltered. I’d also like to thank Ron Doel and Xiaojun Yang for their willingness to serve on my committee and their valuable comments and feedback. Ben Clark in the College of Social Science Dean’s office deserves credit for his time and skill in setting up the online Q-sort surveys, and fixing the .html code to adapt it to my needs and make it work as it should. Also, to Jack Tyndall in the Graduate School, for his patience and help in navigating through the administrative hurdles. I would also like to thank Bruce Stiftel, now at Georgia Tech, for his early participation as committee member, and always sound advice and sobering analyses of my assessments regarding marine management planning and policy analysis. ! To one of my greatest inspirations and heros, Robert N. Ginsburg, once my MSc. committee member and mentor at UM/RSMAS, and now good friend and reef-exploring companion. He is among the very few who understood my steadfast motivations and goals. It was his doing that I became so deeply involved with coral reef issues and tropical marine environments, and where I began to see the marine system beyond a purely “material” and “natural” space. His constant questioning (his infamous “so what?”) and his awareness and openness to the socio-political aspect of reef conservation, despite his own focus on natural sciences, allowed me to understand this environment from a wide range of perspectives and be able to engage in the necessary critical thinking that first clued me into the sociological and philosophical aspects of science. He was among the few who emphasized the iv importance of connection, not only of the environment, but of knowledge, its power, and its effects. His support, teachings, and honest friendship have furthered me beyond anything I could have achieved without him. Great thanks to the trusty Rock Star, the 32-foot, 1968 Bertram that safely took us on those many trips to “our” reefs for so many years, and brought us back safely from those adventures we did not anticipate. I would also like to thank my mother, for her support and financial backing when I was counting pennies and scrounging for change under my furniture and car seats, or looking around for something to sell on eBay to make ends meet; to my sister for being a fantastic sounding-board and just simply an awesome sister, as well as Bryan Rodwell for being a loving husband and father to her family, and a good friend to me. To both of my parents for forcing me to retain my bi-lingual abilities as a child, which has come in handy more than once, and for supporting my wild adventures even though they may not have always understood what I was doing, or why. My father deserves thanks for the opportunities he has provided me throughout my life to travel and see the corners of the world we explored together. And, to “my girls,” my precious, beautiful nieces, who when moments got hard and frustrating, made me smile in my heart and gave me the necessary strength to carry on by reminding me why I was doing this. ! To my “academic friends” just for putting up with me as I rode the roller-coaster of emotions and mood-swings an endeavor such as this imposes, especially to Heather Gamper and Andres Platta-Strappa for their friendship, and for always welcoming me in their home when I needed a warm (and cool) place to stay in Tallahassee, and to Celeste and Dookie who let me share their space. To Mrs. Julie Cliff, Wando High School marine science teacher who lit the spark that started me down the marine science road; to Dr. Arthur Mariano, RSMAS scientist and friend whose sword-fishing trips not only allowed me to see some of the most awesome nature out there, but also clued me into aspects of the political ecology of fisheries and engaged my critical thinking in aspects of recreational and commercial fisheries; to Nick Onuf whose constructivist teachings, encouragement and conversations about science helped me understand how to converge my diverse background, and how to organize my critical thinking and attach it to theory, society, and the intersection of environment, politics and international law. I feel lucky to have been able to be among his students. To my kiter-buddies for helping me retain some sanity and become a kitesurfing fool, especially to Jaaz Bousquet, Juan Herrera, Muriel Vandenbempt, and the S. Florida and Chucktown crews. The times we had together on and off the water still rank among the best in my life. And to my enduring friends, the people that have stuck by me: David Brown, Marion Krause, Mita Saksena, Astrid Ellie Hurley, Terri-Ky Ross Rand among so many others. The gratitude and love I feel for the people in my life who have chosen me as I have chosen them is beyond words. ! In my mind, all people who enter our lives are important in some way, even if they only remain there for short measures –– they all leave a trace. Seven years in New York City, four of which in Harlem quite a few years before Billy, Starbucks and McDonald’s moved in, taught me that sometimes even the briefest encounters can affect one in ways that only later become evident. To those fleeting associations and encounters, even the ones that were quite awful or that scared the living hell out of me, I also owe some appreciation, as they have had some influence on my convictions and motivations, and taught me about myself and helped me organize the world we live in. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................................... x ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................................... xi